Environmental Advisory Board

MINUTES ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY BOARD DECEMBER 8, 2023 MEMBERS PRESENT: Katherine Arnett, Scott Eardley, Tim Pritchard, Sarah Richard, Hillery Spearman, Kathleen Turner, Brian Williams, Matthew Worsham MEMBERS ABSENT: Niani Brown STAFF PRESENT: Paul Fleischman, Julie Height, Meg Maloney, Theresa McGeady, Carolyn Moore, Greg Parker, Zak Schultz OTHERS PRESENT: John Woodman – Solid Waste District Spencer Thomas – Public Health Sarah Holod – Public Health Izzy Waite – UD Student Walt Hibner – CenterPoint Energy Leslie King – MVRPC Chairperson Katherine Arnett called the meeting to order at 12:03 p.m. and thanked Sarah Richard and Brian Williams for agreeing to serve another term on the EAB. There were no Citizens’ Concerns. Approval of the November 2023 Minutes: Chairperson Katherine Arnett called for a motion to accept the minutes from the November 2023 meeting. Sarah Richard made a motion to accept the minutes. Tim Pritchard seconded the motion; a vote was taken, and the minutes were accepted. Staff Items: Zak Schultz shared that there was a release of hazard material from Franklin Iron & Metal. City staff worked with EPA and were able to capture most of the release. A Notice of Violation (NOV) was issued and working to prevent future releases. Theresa McGeady talked about the industrial and city facility inspections that are taking place. This is to ensure that all city facilities follow regulations. She mentioned that they are looking for presenters on watershed or aquifer for the Children’s Water Festival in May. There is a recognition luncheon during the Festival for sponsors and partners and are looking for volunteers to help with that. She also mentioned that they have been working with the Dayton Ambassadors with education on keeping trash/ litter out of the storm drains. They were supplied with drain covers to help during a liquid cleanup. Paul Fleischman shared that they are continuing inspections and recently went to the Mahle facility, Primient (former Tate & Lyle), and Cargill. Cargill’s response to a non-hazardous release last month is still on-going. They are aerating the out-fall water. Ohio EPA and DNR are working with Cargill. The hazardous waste operator training is taking place and several employees are attending. A tabletop exercise with the City of Dayton and Montgomery County took place on November 9th. It went well. Kinder Morgan has invited the Water and Fire Departments to participate in their emergency tabletop exercises next week. MCD is hosting a table-top exercise for Southwest Ohio source water protection managers in late January. Wright Patterson has two remediation projects in process now and have five that are being reviewed. Technical meetings between the Base, City, Ohio EPA, and US EPA are taking place monthly. Sustainability: Meg Maloney shared that the Valleycrest closure for the construction ceremony went well. There will not be as many updates going forward on Valleycrest, unless it would be concerning the solar project which has been submitted to AES. There will be a public meeting next Thursday concerning other brownfield sites within the City. The old GM Facility in Edgemont neighborhood has been identified as one of the first ones, it is contaminated with TCe. There will be ground water and ambient air testing. Sustainability is working with MVRPC on the Climate Pollution Reduction grant. The City made a unique request for proposal, for a virtual power plant. Using solar on Valleycrest site and other city facilities, generate revenue to fund other green projects, especially in economically disadvantaged areas of the City. The streetlight grant and EV charger deployment are still in process. ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY BOARD -2- December 8, 2023 Sustainability continued: A question was asked about the status of Knoop Prairie. Meetings between the City and MetroParks are taking place concerning the outcome, but no plans for development currently. Nothing will be decided until after an environmental assessment is complete. It is not being maintained as a prairie. Economic Development: No Update Public Health, Dayton and Montgomery County: Sarah Holod introduced Spencer Thomas, who will be working with her. Solid Waste District: John Woodman shared that over 2100 pounds of Styrofoam was collected during their Styrofoam Collection event in October. The next one will be January 6th and will continue quarterly. There were over 9,200 tires collected at the September Tire Buy-Back Event. Over the ten events and eleven years, almost 140,000 tires total have been collected. John has been working with Hamilton County and they will be hosting their first tire buy-back tomorrow. In November, the household hazardous waste collection program changed to their winter hours. Collection will take place the first Tuesday of the month. Normal hours will resume in March. Five Rivers MetroParks: No Update University of Dayton: Sarah Richard shared that collection move out meetings have started. She will talk with John Woodman about a Styrofoam collection program during move in. Submissions are open for the Midwest Regional Sustainability Summit. A link to the summit website was provided to send to attendees. Scott Eardley shared that additional funding was received from the DOE for increased energy efficiency assessments. Soon there will be more availability for no cost commercial assessments. As a result of the additional funding, Sinclair Community College has been identified as a new industrial assessment center post. MVRPC: Leslie King gave an update that the Water and Environment subcommittee met this past week. The next one will be in January. Their consultants from Canada were here working on the climate grant. They have completed their preliminary pre-engagement with low income, disadvantaged communities and shared some initial findings. A survey will be sent soon to interviewees. Some projects have already been submitted but are hoping for more. The consultants shared that the top emitter of greenhouse gas is residential, which is a huge opportunity for grant implementation dollars. Our region emits 11.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Old Business: Chairperson Katherine Arnett stated that the requested TCe letters were sent out on time to EPA. Niani Brown will be focused on better connection to the residents this year, through neighborhood association meeting attendance, improving website navigation, and social media posts. New Business: 2024 schedule of meetings is available. The Annual Dinner/Retreat will be in January and the time and place to be determined. There being no further business to discuss, Chairperson Katherine Arnett asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. A motion was made by Tim Pritchard and seconded by Matthew Worsham. The meeting was adjourned at 12:58 p.m.